ALS

Once the rules for implementing it are worked out, a bill signed into federal law in December will eliminate the required five-month waiting period for diagnosed ALS patients to begin disability benefits, enabling quicker Medicare coverage as well.

ALS Patients To Gain Quicker Access To Disability Benefits And Medicare

5:00am January 20, 2021

by Michelle Andrews

Lou Gehrig's disease can take months to diagnose, then rapidly incapacitate patients, leaving many families bankrupt before disability payments and Medicare kick in. A recent law aims to change that.

Patients with a fast-progressing form of ALS who got daily doses of an experimental two-drug combination called AMX0035 scored higher on a standard measure of function than patients who didn't get the drug.

Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark 'New Era' In Treatment

7:44pm September 02, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists say new drugs are on the way for patients with ALS. The latest is a two-drug combo that appears to slow the progression of the fatal nerve disease with a modest but meaningful benefit.

Queue Listen Now

This light micrograph from the brain of someone who died with Alzheimer's disease shows the plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are typical of the disease. A glitch that prevents healthy cell structures from transitioning from one phase to the next m

New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's Disease From Physics

11:19am July 08, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.

Pete Frates, (seated, center) participates in the Ice Bucket Challenge with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to raise money for ALS research at the Statehouse in Boston in 2015.

Pete Frates, A Driving Force Behind The Viral Ice Bucket Challenge, Dies At 34

6:14pm December 09, 2019

by Sam Gringlas

The former Boston College baseball star was diagnosed with ALS when he was 27. He turned a fundraising challenge into a national story and helped raise millions for ALS research.

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik puts final touches on a sculpture in honor of Stephen Hawking at Puri Beach near Bhubaneswar, India, on Wednesday.

Mourners Honor Stephen Hawking, Whose Mind Blazed Bright

2:25pm March 14, 2018

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

His mental genius and physical disability made the renowned British physicist a household name. On Wednesday, people around the world grieved Hawking's death.

Adox and Michaeli with their son, Orion, in the winter of 2015.

A Dying Man's Wish To Donate His Organs Gets Complicated

6:36am December 26, 2016

by Karen Shakerdge

Dying in America doesn't always go the way we plan. One terminally ill man's hope to be disconnected from his respirator and donate his organs was almost thwarted, despite his best laid plans.

Karen Lorne, diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in July, volunteers weekly with her certified therapy dog, Bailey, at the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Simplified Study Aims To Quickly Test A Long-Shot ALS Treatment

5:03pm October 25, 2016

by Richard Harris

Fifty patients with Lou Gehrig's disease have volunteered for a study of a dietary supplement as an experimental treatment. Even a failure could help by eliminating a dead end from consideration.

Queue Listen Now